Films Based on Unbelievable True Stories

'The Amityville Horror' (1979)

"The Amityville Horror" seems too horrific to be true, but its premise is based on the real paranormal experiences of George and Kathy Lutz. The Lutz family moved to the suburban neighborhood of Amityville, New York in 1975, but did not realize that their house was haunted. The home they picked, located at 112 Ocean Avenue, was formerly occupied by Ronald DeFeo, Sr., his wife Louise and their five children–a family that was brutally murdered in the house by their oldest son, Ronald "Butch" DeFeo, Jr. After just 28 days, the Lutzs fled the home claiming that paranormal spirits of the murdered family haunted the walls. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: American International Pictures)

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The year is 1989 and it seems as if Joy Mangano's life will never turn right side up. As a divorced mother of two, Mangano lives not only with her children and ex-husband, but also with her mother and grandmother. Dropping a glass of red wine quickly leads to Joy's breakthrough big idea—a self-wringing mop. And from there a business is born. This unbelievable tale reassures the working American that with the right idea and dedicated perseverance, anything is possible. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: 20th Century Fox)

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The hills are alive… with a totally amazing story. "The Sound of Music," a 1959 musical starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, is based on an actual singing family. The real Maria Augusta von Trapp was actually recruited to care for the seven children of Austrian naval commander Georg Johannes "Baron" von Trapp in 1905. The pair fell in love and wed in 1927, welcoming three children of their own (not featured in the movie). The family was forced out of their home due to the Nazi invasion, and eventually moved to the United States. The musical, written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, went on to win five Academy Awards. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Fox)

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The plot of "Jaws" isn't entirely based on a true story, but the brutal shark attacks in the film are. In 1916, a great white shark began terrorizing the waters of the Jersey shore, causing mass hysteria all over the country. The beast killed four people and injured one over a span of just 11 days. The story inspired Peter Benchley's 1974 novel "Jaws," which was later adapted for the big screen by Steven Spielberg in 1975. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Universal)

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"The Amityville Horror" seems too horrific to be true, but its premise is based on the real paranormal experiences of George and Kathy Lutz. The Lutz family moved to the suburban neighborhood of Amityville, New York in 1975, but did not realize that their house was haunted. The home they picked, located at 112 Ocean Avenue, was formerly occupied by Ronald DeFeo, Sr., his wife Louise and their five children–a family that was brutally murdered in the house by their oldest son, Ronald "Butch" DeFeo, Jr. After just 28 days, the Lutzs fled the home claiming that paranormal spirits of the murdered family haunted the walls. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: American International Pictures)

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Bobsledding and Jamaica don't exactly go hand-in-hand, but 1993's "Cool Runnings" brought the true story of the country's first bobsled team trying to compete at the Winter Olympics to the big screen. The film did take some liberties on the true story, though what really happened is just as interesting. Two wealthy Americans, George Finch and William Maloney, knew that any bobsled team with fast sprinters would have a huge advantage in the Olympics. What better place to look than Jamaica? Unfortunately, no native sprinters expressed interested in the idea, so the two men sought out talent from the country's military. In addition, the international community did not pan the Jamaican team as depicted in the movie, but were very supportive of their efforts to break into the sport despite the warm nature of their home country. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Disney)

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Soldiers sneaking an elephant onto a helicopter? It definitely sounds like the plot of a fake movie, but the story is indeed authentic... and even involves two elephants. Danny Glover and Ray Liotta star in the Disney flick, which is based on the true story of former Green Beret John Scott Gantt. Gantt and his fellow officers delivered two Indian elephants, via a C-130 airplane, to the small town of Tra Bong in South Vietnam in order to help the mountain village prosper. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Disney)

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The events in 2002's "Catch Me If You Can" seem impossible by today's standards, even with smooth-talking Leonardo DiCaprio playing former conman Frank Abagnale. Shockingly, the story really is true. Over the course of his career as a criminal, Abagnale escaped from police custody twice, forged countless checks and stole the identities of over eight people, including an airline pilot, a doctor, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons agent and a lawyer. What is even more unbelievable? Abagnale only served five years in prison before landing a job consulting for the FBI. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: DreamWorks)

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The 2003 film "Open Water" is based on the real story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, a couple from Louisiana that were stranded in the ocean in 1998 during a scuba diving trip to Australia's Barrier Reef. Their bodies were never found, and many believed they may have staged their own disappearance. While no one knows exactly what happened to the couple after their tour boat left them alone in the water, the movie speculates that they were attacked and killed by sharks–a belief shared by Eileen Lonergan's father. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Lionsgate)

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Yes, someone really did live in an airport for 17 years as depicted in 2004's "The Terminal," but it isn't Edward Snowden. The film, which stars Tom Hanks, was inspired by the true story of Mehran Karimim Nasseri, an Iranian refugee who lived in Terminal I of the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris from 1988 to 2006 after he was booted out of his home country for protesting. Nasseri was forced to leave the airport in 2006 due to an illness. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: DreamWorks)

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The drama around Ben Affleck's unexpected Oscars snub last year nearly overshadowed the amazing, almost unbelievable true story behind "Argo." The flick is based on CIA operative Tony Mendez's creative rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. How did he do it? Mendez and the CIA staged a totally fake movie in order to get close to the hostages. In order to appear completely authentic, they wrote an actual script, hired a crew and took out realistic advertisements for the film in entertainment magazines such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Talk about dedication. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Warner Bros)

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Tom Hanks stars as Richard Phillips, a real-life container ship captain who was taken hostage by Somali pirates in 2009. The standoff, which plays out in gripping fashion throughout the film, came to a dramatic climax when a Navy SEAL team descended upon the ship's 28-foot lifeboat in hopes of saving the captive crewman. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Columbia)

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"The Conjuring" is based on the lives of Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), paranormal investigators who are most famous for studying the claims of George and Kathy Lutz, the couple that inspired another movie, "The Amnityville Horror." —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Warner Bros)

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In "Deliver Us From Evil," Eric Bana plays real-life NYPD police officer Ralph Sarchie, a 16-year veteran who moonlights as a demonologist. The film is based on Sarchie's true paranormal experiences, which he documented in the 2001 book "Beware the Night." —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Screen Gems)

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Directed by George Clooney, "The Monuments Men" chronicles the real-life mission of an Allied forces platoon tasked with saving artwork and other culturally significant artifacts from the Nazis during World War II. The group was comprised of museum directors, curators and art historians, who are played on-screen by Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Jean Dujardin. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Columbia)

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Based on Cheryl Strayed's memoir "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail," this movie chronicles the author's 1,100-mile hike across the Pacific Crest Trail as a way of coping with the death of her mother, the end of her marriage and heroin addiction. Reese Witherspoon stars as Strayed. —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Fox Searchlight)

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In 2005, accused rapist Brian Nichols escaped his trial at Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, killing four people in the process. Nichols later forced his way into the apartment of a woman named Ashley Smith, who convinced the killer to turn himself in after discussing the death of her husband and reading passages from the book "The Purpose Driven Life." This film is based on Smith's book about the incident entitled "Unlikely Angel." —XFINITY Entertainment Staff (Photo: Fox Paramount)

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